Gap solitons supported by optical lattices in biased centrosymmetric photorefractive crystals

We analyze the existence and stability of gap solitons supported by optical lattices with self-focusing nonlinearity in biased centrosymmetric photorefractive crystals. It is shown that, in first finite bandgap, gap solitons are symmetric in transverse dimension, single humped, entirely positive and linearly stable, while these solitons are antisymmetric with similar profiles, the stable and unstable intervals of the gap solitons are intertwined in the second finite bandgap.     

Surface solitons in trilete lattices

Fundamental solitons pinned to the interface between three semi-infinite one-dimensional nonlinear dynamical chains, coupled at a single site, are investigated. The light propagation in the respective system with the self-attractive on-site cubic nonlinearity, which can be implemented as an array of nonlinear optical waveguides, is modeled by the system of three discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equations. The formation, stability and dynamics of symmetric and asymmetric fundamental solitons centered at the interface are investigated analytically by means of the variational approximation (VA) and in a numerical form. The VA predicts that two asymmetric and two antisymmetric branches exist in the entire parameter space, while four asymmetric modes and the symmetric one can be found below some critical value of the inter-lattice coupling parameter—actually, past the symmetry-breaking bifurcation. At this bifurcation point, the symmetric branch is destabilized and two new asymmetric soliton branches appear, one stable and the other unstable. In this area, the antisymmetric branch changes its character, getting stabilized against oscillatory perturbations. In direct simulations, unstable symmetric modes radiate a part of their power, staying trapped around the interface. Highly unstable asymmetric modes transform into localized breathers traveling from the interface region across the lattice without significant power loss.     

Symmetric and antisymmetric vector solitons for the fractional quadric-cubic coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation

The fractional quadric-cubic coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation is concerned, and vector symmetric and antisymmetric soliton solutions are obtained by the square operator method. The relationship between the Lévy index and the amplitudes of vector symmetric and antisymmetric solitons is investigated. Two components of vector symmetric and antisymmetric solitons show a positive and negative trend with the Lévy index, respectively. The stability intervals of these solitons and the propagation constants corresponding to the maximum and minimum instability growth rates are studied. Results indicate that vector symmetric solitons are more stable and have better interference resistance than vector antisymmetric solitons.     

Fundamental and multipole solitons supported by one-dimensional multilayer photonic crystals potentials

The existence and stability of solitons in one-dimensional multilayer photonic crystals potentials are reported. For all of the solitons, there exist cutoff points of the propagation constant below which the solitons vanish in the semi-infinite gap. The fundamental solitons are stable in the whole range where solitons exist. The antisymmetric dipole solitons can be stable when the propagation constant closes to the cutoff point. The range of stability for symmetric tripole solitons is changed with modulation depth and width of the multilayer photonic crystals potentials. The power of solitons increases with increasing of propagation constant and modulation width or decreasing of modulation depth of the potentials.     

Double Loops and Pitchfork Symmetry Breaking Bifurcations of Optical Solitons in Nonlinear Fractional Schrödinger Equation with Competing Cubic-Quintic Nonlinearities

Symmetry breaking bifurcations of solitons are investigated in framework of a nonlinear fractional Schrödinger equation (NLFSE) with competing cubic-quintic nonlinearity. Some prototypical characteristics of the symmetry breaking, featured by transformations of symmetric and antisymmetric soliton families into asymmetric ones, are found. Stable asymmetric solitons emerge from unstable symmetric and antisymmetric ones by way of two different symmetry breaking scenarios. A twisting branch, featured with double loops bifurcation, bifurcates off from the base branch of symmetric soliton solutions and crosses it, then merges into the base branch driven by the competitive nonlinear effect. A supercritical pitchfork bifurcation is bifurcated from the branch of antisymmetric soliton solutions and gives rise to a supercritical pitchfork bifurcation. Stability of the soliton families is explored by linear stability analysis. With the increase of the Lévy index, stability region induced by the twisting loops bifurcation is expanded. However, stability region of the pitchfork bifurcation is shrunk on the parameter plane of the Lévy index and the soliton power.     

Stability of solitons in parity-time-symmetric couplers

Families of analytical solutions are found for symmetric and antisymmetric solitons in a dual-core system with Kerr nonlinearity and parity-time (PT)-balanced gain and loss. The crucial issue is stability of the solitons. A stability region is obtained in an analytical form, and verified by simulations, for the PT-symmetric solitons. For the antisymmetric ones, the stability border is found in a numerical form. Moving solitons of both types collide elastically. The two soliton species merge into one in the "supersymmetric" case, with equal coefficients of gain, loss, and intercore coupling. These solitons feature a subexponential instability, which may be suppressed by periodic switching ("management").     

Symmetric and Anti-Symmetric Solitons of the Fractional Second-and Third-Order Nonlinear Schr?dinger Equation

The fractional second-and third-order nonlinear Schr?dinger equation is studied,symmetric and antisymmetric soliton solutions are derived,and the influence of the Levy index on different solitons is analyzed.The stability and stability interval of solitons are discussed.The anti-interference ability of stable solitons to the small disturbance shows a good robustness.     

Defect solitons supported by parity-time symmetric defects in superlattices

The existence and stability of defect solitons supported by parity-time (PT) symmetric defects in superlattices are investigated. In the semi-infinite gap, in-phase solitons are found to exist stably for positive defects, zero defects, and negative defects. In the first gap, out-of-phase solitons are stable for positive defects or zero defects, whereas in-phase solitons are stable for negative defects. For both the in-phase and out-of-phase solitons with the positive defect and in-phase solitons with negative defect in the first gap, there exists a cutoff point of the propagation constant below which the defect solitons vanish. The value of the cutoff point depends on the depth of defect and the imaginary parts of the PT symmetric defect potentials. The influence of the imaginary part of the PT symmetric defect potentials on soliton stability is revealed.     

Observation of discrete gap solitons in one-dimensional waveguide arrays with alternating spacings and saturable defocusing nonlinearity

We consider, both experimentally and theoretically, the existence and stability of localized, symmetric, and antisymmetric gap solitons (GSs) in binary lattices of identical waveguides but with alternating spacings. Furthermore, the properties of surface GSs at the boundary of the lattice are explored.     

Families of spatial solitons in a two-channel waveguide with the cubic-quintic nonlinearity

We present eight types of spatial optical solitons which are possible in a model of a planar waveguide that includes a dual-channel trapping structure and competing (cubic-quintic) nonlinearity. The families of trapped beams include “broad” and “narrow” symmetric and antisymmetric solitons, composite states, built as combinations of broad and narrow beams with identical or opposite signs (“unipolar” and “bipolar” states, respectively), and “single-sided” broad and narrow beams trapped, essentially, in a single channel. The stability of the families is investigated via the computation of eigenvalues of small perturbations, and is verified in direct simulations. Three species-narrow symmetric, broad antisymmetric, and unipolar composite states-are unstable to perturbations with real eigenvalues, while the other five families are stable. The unstable states do not decay, but, instead, spontaneously transform themselves into persistent breathers, which, in some cases, demonstrate dynamical symmetry breaking and chaotic internal oscillations. A noteworthy feature is a stability exchange between the broad and narrow antisymmetric states: in the limit when the two channels merge into one, the former species becomes stable, while the latter one loses its stability. Different branches of the stationary states are linked by four bifurcations, which take different forms in the model with the strong and weak coupling between the channels.     

Trapped states and transitions between them in double-well pseudopotentials

We analyze a model of a double-well pseudopotential (DWPP), based in the 1D Gross-Pitaevskii equation with a spatially modulated self-attractive nonlinearity. In the limit case when the DWPP structure reduces to the local nonlinearity coefficient represented by a set of two delta-functions, analytical solutions are obtained for symmetric, antisymmetric and asymmetric states. In this case, the transition from symmetric to asymmetric states, i.e., a spontaneous-symmetry-breaking (SSB) bifurcation, is subcritical. Numerical analysis demonstrates that the symmetric states are stable up to the SSB point, while emerging asymmetric states (together with all antisymmetric solutions) are unstable in the delta-function model. In a general model, which features a finite width of the nonlinear-potential wells, the asymmetric states quickly become stable, simultaneously with the switch of the bifurcation into the supercritical type. Antisymmetric solutions may also enjoy stabilization in the finite-width DWPP structure, demonstrating a bistability involving the asymmetric states. The symmetric states require a finite norm for their existence. A full diagram for the existence and stability of the trapped states is produced for the general model.     

Nonlinear dual-core photonic crystal fiber couplers

We study nonlinear modes of dual-core photonic crystal fiber couplers made of a material with the focusing Kerr nonlinearity. We find numerically the profiles of symmetric, antisymmetric, and asymmetric nonlinear modes and analyze all-optical switching generated by the instability of the symmetric mode. We also describe elliptic spatial solitons controlled by the waveguide boundaries.     

The contrast between defect solitons in parityben time symmetric superlattice and simple-lattice complex potentials

The existence and stability of defect superlattice solitons in parity-time (PT) symmetric superlattice and simple-lattice complex potentials are reported. Compared with defect simple-lattice solitons in similar potentials, the defect soliton in superlattice has a wider stable range than that in simple-lattice. The solitons' power increases with increasing propagation constant. For the positive defect, the solitons are stable in the whole region where solitons exist in the semi-infinite gap. For the zero defect, the solitons are unstable at the edge of the band. For the negative defect, the solitons propagate with the shape of Y at low propagation constant and propagate stably at the large one.     

Solitons pinned to hot spots

We generalize a recently proposed model based on the cubic complex Ginzburg-Landau (CGL) equation, which gives rise to stable dissipative solitons supported by localized gain applied at a “hot spot” (HS), in the presence of the linear loss in the bulk. We introduce a model with the Kerr nonlinearity concentrated at the HS, together with the local gain and, possibly, with the local nonlinear loss. The model, which may be implemented in laser cavities based on planar waveguides, gives rise to exact solutions for pinned dissipative solitons. In the case when the HS does not include the localized nonlinear loss, numerical tests demonstrate that these solitons are stable/unstable if the localized nonlinearity is self-defocusing/focusing. Another new setting considered in this work is a pair of two symmetric HSs. We find exact asymmetric solutions for it, although they are unstable. Numerical simulations demonstrate that stable modes supported by the HS pair tend to be symmetric. An unexpected conclusion is that the interaction between breathers pinned to two broad HSs, which are the only stable modes in isolation in that case, transforms them into a static symmetric mode.     

Asymmetric vortex solitons in nonlinear periodic lattices

We reveal the existence of asymmetric vortex solitons in ideally symmetric periodic lattices and show how such nonlinear localized structures describing elementary circular flows can be analyzed systematically using the energy-balance relations. We present the examples of rhomboid, rectangular, and triangular vortex solitons on a square lattice and also describe novel coherent states where the populations of clockwise and anticlockwise vortex modes change periodically due to a nonlinearity-induced momentum exchange through the lattice. Asymmetric vortex solitons are expected to exist in different nonlinear lattice systems, including optically induced photonic lattices, nonlinear photonic crystals, and Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices.     

Gap Solitons in Fractional Dimensions With a Quasi‐Periodic Lattice

The existence and stability of gap solitons in the nonlinear fractional Schrödinger equation are investigated with a quasi‐periodic lattice. In the absence of nonlinearity, the exact band‐gap spectrum of the proposed system is obtained, and it is found that the spectrum gap size can be adjusted by the sublattice depth and the Lévy index. Under self‐defocusing nonlinearity, both in‐phase and out‐of‐phase gap solitons have been searched in the first four gaps. It is revealed that in‐phase gap solitons are generally stable in wide regions of their existence, whereas stable out‐of‐phase gap solitons can only exist in the fourth spectrum gap. Linear stability analysis of gap solitons is in good agreement with their corresponding nonlinear evolutions in fractional dimensions. The presented numerical findings may lead to interesting applications, such as transporting of light beams through the optical medium, and other areas connected with the Kerr effect and fractional effect.     

Gap and dark solitons in discrete photorefractive media with?intensity-resonant nonlinearity

Light propagation in one-dimensional nonlinear waveguide arrays with self-defocusing intensity-resonant nonlinearity is investigated theoretically. We study thoroughly conditions for existence and stability of both gap and discrete dark solitons. According to the linear stability analysis both fundamental types (on-site and intersite) of gap solitons may be stable. Discrete dark solitons are unstable except in the low-power regime and, depending on system parameters, evolve into either gray solitons, breathers, or background radiation. Mobility of these solitons is analyzed by the free energy concept: gap solitons are immobile but dark solitons can be easily set in motion.     

Solitons in a medium with linear dissipation and localized gain

We present a variety of dissipative solitons and breathing modes in a medium with localized gain and homogeneous linear dissipation. The system possesses a number of unusual properties, like exponentially localized modes in both focusing and defocusing media, existence of modes in focusing media at negative propagation constant values, simultaneous existence of stable symmetric and antisymmetric localized modes when the gain landscape possesses two local maxima, as well as the existence of stable breathing solutions.